Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka got the two singles titles at the 2023 Australian Open. In the Tennisnerd podcast we say, Congrats Novak and Aryna! Congrats Novak and Aryna! Djokovic winning his 10th Australian Open and 22nd Grand Slam was not a difficult prediction. We got it right in our Australian Open 2023 predictions, but we didn’t quite predict that Aryna Sabalenka would win her first Grand Slam down under. However, she has one of the biggest games on the WTA Tour, so it’s not entirely surprising. It felt a bit too predictable when you look back on the first …
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The inaugural United Cup takes place in Australia from the 29th of December to the 8th of January. But what is the United Cup? What is the United Cup? The United Cup is a mixed-team competition, sort of like the Hopman Cup. Â The tournament will be played across three cities, Sydney (Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre), Brisbane (Queensland Tennis Centre), and Perth (RAC Arena). Interestingly, the Sydney and Brisbane competitions will be played on outdoor hard courts and the Perth one on indoor hard courts. All tournaments will use Dunlop Australian Open balls. Format Each city will host two groups …
Did you watch the F1 series “Drive to Survive”? It did a lot for the popularity of the sport. Now it’s time for Netflix Break Point. Netflix Break Point Netflix’s Break Point is the tennis version of Drive to Survive. It’s the same team behind it, so we can expect top production value and interesting storylines. Is the world of professional tennis players as exciting as Formula 1? It can be with the right treatment. I was slightly skeptical when I heard about the idea, but now I am looking forward to it. The Netflix Break Point series will premiere …
In the last edition of this year’s, This Week in Tennis, let’s round up the ATP Finals. Let’s also look at the Top 10 ATP players 2022. Top 10 ATP Players 2022 It was a sensational sixth title for Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals as he defeated Casper Ruud, 7-5, 6-3, in Turin, Italy. A close first set saw Djokovic and Ruud battle it out from the back of the court, with neither player able to break. Serving at 5-6, it looked like Ruud was going to take the first set into a tie-break; however, Djokovic had other ideas. The Serb hit …
The ATP has announced significant Challenger Tour improvements. Record events, more prize money, and an optimized calendar. Challenger Tour Improvements Here are the Challenger Tour improvements as laid out by the ATP tour. 1) Category Simplification The ATP will phase out the Challenger 90 and 110 categories, reducing the number of categories from six to four. Starting in 2023, the core categories will be: Challenger 50 Challenger 75 Challenger 100 Challenger 125 In addition, ATP will introduce three new premium Challenger 175 events during the second week of ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Rome, and Madrid, with prize …
Prize money in tennis is a hot topic. It has increased over the years, but many would argue not enough for smaller events. Prize money in tennis If we look at the prize money in tennis, it looks like this: Grand Slams 2022 Australian Open: A$33,784,200 French Open: €21,256,80 Wimbledon: £18,652,000 US Open: (not announced yet) Grand Slam singles winners for Wimbledon as an example get £2,000,000 while the runner-up gets £1,050,000 -£1,050,000 a 17% approx increase since last year. Below you have a good overview from Perfect Tennis about the Wimbledon prize money. As you can see a grand slam …
The ATP OneVision strategic plan is moving into phase one. The idea is to take the sport to the next level from 2023. What is the ATP OneVision Strategic Plan? It introduces a set of reforms across the tour to align interests between tournaments and players. OneVision is made up of two independent phases and centres on three core principles: driving unity, enhancing the fan experience, and leveraging scalable growth opportunities in media, data, content and tech. Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, said on the ATP Tour website: “Our sport has huge upside and stands on the cusp of a new …
How emotional can you get on a tennis court? As most of you know, very emotional! There is a limit, of course, but where does it go? And when I ask the question about how emotional you can get on a tennis court, I don’t Naomi Osaka not wanting to continue a match because a person in the crowds scream “You suck!”. I think people in the public eye need to expect that. Now you don’t even need to be famous to get some nasty comments. You just need to be on social media. However, this question mainly refers to …
In Acapulco, Alexander Zverev attacked an umpire (he didn’t hit him directly, but it was close enough). But what was Zverev’s penalty? The attack wasn’t pretty and the tennis world seemed to agree that some kind of suspension was in order for hothead Zverev (he still has his abuse allegation from the ex-girlfriend, so this didn’t look good for his brand image). He forfeited his Acapulco prize money (around $30k) and got a $40k fine. Still, since these things easily set a precedent and it was a very ugly situation, everyone and their mother expected a suspension. What is Zverev’s …
There will be new rules at the Next Gen Finals taking place between the 9-13 November in Milan. What do we think about them? The ATP and the FIT (Italian Tennis Federation) has announced new rules at Next Gen Finals in Milan. The idea of the tournament is to highlights the most exciting talents at age 21 and under. Like during every other year this event has been staged, the rules are different to experiment with ways to speed up the game. You can read more about the event on the official website. This is what I wrote about the …